Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium cultivar Yobianca.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium, commercially known as a garden-type Chrysanthemum, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Yobiancaxe2x80x99.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Salinas, Calif. and Alva, Fla. The objective of the breeding program is to create new garden-type Chrysanthemum cultivars having inflorescences with desirable inflorescence forms, attractive floret colors and good garden performance.
The new Chrysanthemum originated from a cross made in September, 1998, in Salinas, Calif., of a proprietary Chrysanthemum selection identified as code number 96-L060, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary Chrysanthemum selection identified as code number 96-L056, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross grown in a controlled environment in Alva, Fla. in November, 1999. The selection of this plant was based on its desirable inflorescence form, attractive ray floret color and good garden performance.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Alva, Fla. since January, 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Yobianca has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Yobiancaxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Yobiancaxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright, mounded and rounded plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit; dense and full plants.
3. Uniform and freely flowering habit.
4. Button-type inflorescences.
5. White-colored ray florets that xe2x80x9cpinkxe2x80x9d with development.
6. Early flowering, natural season flowering in mid-September in the Northern Hemisphere.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Alva, Fla., plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the female parent, the selection 96-L060, in the following characteristics:
1. Plant habit of plants of the new Chrysanthemum was more uniform than plant habit of plants of the selection 96-L060.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum and the selection 96-L060 differed in ray floret color as plants of the selection 96-L060 had yellow-colored ray florets.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Alva, Fla., plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the male parent, the selection 96-L056, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered a few days earlier than plants of the selection 96-L056 when grown under natural season conditions.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum had fewer disc florets than plants of the selection 96-L056.
Plants of the new Chrysanthemum can be compared to plants of the cultivar Messina, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Alva, Fla., plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the cultivar Messina in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum were larger than plants of the cultivar Messina.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered more uniformly than plants of the cultivar Messina.
3. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered about 10 days later than plants of the cultivar Messina when grown under natural season conditions.